Conlin proposes solution to Northgate parking garage dispute

Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin has offered a solution to the dispute over a planned parking garage outside a future Northgate light rail station.

Conlin. (Joshua Trujillo, Seattlepi.com file photo)

Conlin says he plans to introduce his proposed “access strategy” Thursday during a Sound Transit capital committee meeting. Conlin’s proposal would commit Sound Transit to build a smaller garage and divert more money into bike and pedestrian improvements, according to a news release. Conlin sits on Sound Transit’s board.

Under the proposal, Sound Transit would:

Match up to $5 million in city investments in bicycle and pedestrian facilities around the Northgate station;

Commit up to $5 million as a 25 percent share in a bicycle/pedestrian bridge between the Northgate station and North Seattle Community College;

Sound Transit has plans for a parking garage that would hold 600 to 900 vehicles, which the transit agency says would make up for spaces temporarily displaced during construction on the elevated light rail station. Once construction is over, it would have enough space so King County can develop current park-and-ride surface lots into housing that would feed riders into the light rail system, transit official say.

The new garage would be built just north of the transit center on property owned by Simon Properties Group, which owns Northgate Mall. The garage likely would be a public-private partnership, with both costs and parking spaces shared. It’s estimated to cost about $20 million.

But several groups, including the Cascade Bicycle Club, Feet First, Sierra Club, and Pinehurst and Maple Leaf Community Councils, have spoken out against the plan, saying the money could be better spent on reducing demand for parking by improving connector bus service to Northgate, and improving bike and pedestrian access. They’d like Sound Transit to spend the money on getting to work sooner on a proposed overpass for pedestrians and bicyclists that would cross Interstate 5 between the North Seattle Community College campus and the station. That would make it a safer trip and more accessible for college students and employees, and residents on the west side of the freeway.

Conlin says that under his proposal, Sound Transit would commit to $10 million for pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and $12 to $15 million for transit’s share of parking garage construction. “The proposed investments would be funded within Sound Transit’s budget for North Link. These investments, in turn, will leverage other public and private funding,” he said in a news release.

The city would have to commit $5 million to bicycle and pedestrian facilities, an “amount that is consistent with the City’s long-range plans for this area,” the news release said. “A consortium of entities would have to be brought together to fund the remaining 75 percent of the pedestrian bridge.”